This Fuss About the Oath is Ridiculous.

[tekisui]

The Constitution of the United States Article II. Section 1:

Before he enter on the Execution of his Office, he shall take the following Oath or Affirmation:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

_____________

Amendment 20:

1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.

http://www.usconstitution.net/const.html#A2Sec4

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What Obama said, taking out the false start

OBAMA: I, Barack Hussein Obama, do solemnly swear that I will execute the office of president of the United States faithfully and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. So help me God.

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

___________________________________________________
What Roberts said

ROBERTS: I, Barack Hussein Obama do solemnly swear that I will execute the office of president to the United States faithfully...(O:that I will execute) faithfully the office of president of the United States and will to the best of my ability preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States. So help you God?

Congratulations, Mr. President.

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/01/20/The_oath_of_office_taken_by_Pres_Obama/UPI-40181232472806/
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'Faithfully' was the only misplaced word in what Obama said. It doesn't change the meaning or even the structure of the oath. This is much ado about nothing, and will be entertaining to see if any RWers waste their money on this endeavor. The irony is overwhelming. chimipy was appointed by 5 Justices in 2000. Election fraud was implemented to keep the illegitimate office in 2004.

And, they want to point to an adjective in a different spot of the Oath as illegitimacy? They are absurdists.

[Skinner]

1. Here's the other stupid part.

Let's accept, for the moment, the absurd argument that the botched oath means Obama isn't the president.

He could just take a ride down to the Supreme Court and have Chief Justice Roberts administer it again, using cue cards this time so he won't screw up. Problem solved.

It's not like the Constitution says you only get one shot at saying it correctly, and then lose your chance to serve if you say it wrong.

[Shiver]

3. Actually, I heard they already did this

Later on, in private. And everyone did everything right this time too.

Edit: Trying to find a link for this, but searching Google just gets me stories about the initial flubbing...

[tekisui]

4. I was about to say, he could just say it in the mirror, with a witness,

no where is it specified that the Chief Justice or a bible need to be present. That he did re-do shows that he doesn't want to give these nuts any wiggle room.

[Skinner]

5. Not surprised if it's true.

The Obama folks are smart.

[crispini]

14. Did they really? I'd love to read that news story.

That would be a delightful thing to email out to the haterz. :P

[Kurt_and_Hunter]

12. And the stupider part... the oath doesn't make you President

LBJ was President when JFK died, not when he took the oath on air force one a few hours later.

[Teaser]

2. Of course it's ridiculous

but we needed some new material.

[Lancer]

6. Calvin Coolidge and Chester A. Arthur

were each administered the Oath of Office twice. I believe Chief Justice John Roberts should volunteer to re-administer the Presidential Oath to Barack Obama in a brief ceremony at the White House, or any other suitably dignified location. Justice Roberts has good reason to publicly acknowledge that his lack of preparation and decision not to rely on a prepared text led to an awkward, disrespectful and embarrassing swearing-in ceremony on Inauguration Day, and that a new president deserves better. No, this is not a legal issue, but one of conferring upon this most symbolic of tasks the grace and dignity it demands. This is the only time many Americans see the Chief of the United States Supreme Court, and the swearing-in of a new president is perhaps the most widely known item in his job description. It seems a small thing to ask that he perform this task in a competent manner.

The Presidential Oath is more than just a symbolic call and response. The ceremony is a visible, stirring reminder that the transfer of power in this country is remarkably simple and unadorned. But the image of the swearing-in ceremony is instantly iconic. This is the new President's moment, and the relatively modern tradition of having his wife hold the Bible lends warmth and humanity to the exchange of thirty-five simple words, the significance of which is inestimable.

Vice President Coolidge became president following President Warren Harding's sudden death from a heart attack in August, 1923. Coolidge was at home in Vermont and his father, a notary public, administered the Presidential Oath to his son. Upon Coolidge's return to Washington, he was sworn in a second time, not by a U.S. Supreme Court justice, but by a justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia. It was unclear whether a notary had the authority to administer the Oath of Office to a U.S. president, which occasioned the second swearing-in.

Vice President Chester Alan Arthur officially became President in September, 1881, four months after an assassination attempt on President James A. Garfield. Garfield was shot in a Washington train station, with one bullet grazing his arm and a second lodging near his spine. Garfield lingered for eighty days, with doctors constantly probing the wound in his back. If left alone, the bullet would most likely have become calcified, rendering it harmless. Healthy doses of antibiotics would not have hurt, either. Still, Garfield died of a heart attack on September 19. Arthur was in New York, where he was hastily given the Oath of Office by an NY State Supreme Court Justice. Upon returning to Washington, Arthur was sworn in a second time.

It's interesting that Sarah Hughes, the Texas state judge who administered the Oath of Office to LBJ on Air Force One only two hours after JFK's assassination, got it note perfect. As a state jurist, it's highly unlikely she ever imagined swearing in a President of the United States. As a friend of LBJ's, she agreed to perform this most solemn of deeds with no notice and under unimaginably horrific conditions. She didn't even have a Bible for the new President to place his hand upon; a Roman Catholic missal someone found on board the plane was used as a stand-in. The nation's grief, trauma and uncertainty almost surely contributed to LBJ's not being sworn in a second time. It was not necessary; the ceremony on board the plane was legal, and while wholly unexpected, carried out by Justice Hughes with uncommon grace.

[tekisui]

7. It is noted up thread that they re-did it in private.

Thanks for the historical background. I noticed watching all of the news shows last night that they edited it, so that the viewers didn't see the false start or the 'faithfully' flub.

[ginnyinWI]

15. I have a feeling that Roberts is in his own private hell over it.

Probably all afternoon he replayed it in his mind, thinking, "doh! how stupid could I get?" And then thinking over and over "if only...!" That's how I would have been anyway.

[underpants]

8. Bush nominee screws up

different day, same results

[mtnsnake]

9. The thing that bothers me the most is that it was such an awkward moment

Maybe I worry about perceptions too much, but I didn't want anyone thinking that Barack was the one who screwed up at the time, when it was the Chief Justice who botched it.

[slackmaster]

10. Are people still hung up on details of yesterday's events?

Jeez Louise.

[EraOfResponsibility]

11. Thank you for this. I feel better now. :)

Now that I know what the 20th Amendment says.

[question everything]

13. I think that we should all be grateful to Roberts

for having the opportunity to show how quick and nimble our new President is.

[ginnyinWI]

16. yeah, that's what I was thinking too.

All during the campaign, whenever something went wrong, it was because somebody else screwed up, not Obama. Same thing happened yesterday--it was Roberts' fault, not Obama's--and when he had a chance to correct the Supreme Court Justice in public, by stating the correct word regardless of what Roberts had said, he didn't so as not to embarrass him further. True to character.